moonbuggy

Hovercraft don’t seem to like grates.

(377kB Flash video)

see it here »

‘Metallica singer James Hetfield was investigated by UK airport officials who believed he was a terrorist this week, it has been claimed. The star was barred entry to Luton airport on Thursday and questioned by staff who were concerned about his appearance. Fears that Hetfield might be involved in terrorism were apparently founded on his “Taliban-like beard”, according to The Times. He was allowed to leave the airport after a brief interrogation, when he persuaded officials that he was a rock star. [..]’

‘A full-scale rescue operation was launched after seven college students on a night-time orienteering trek became worried by a herd of cows.

Emergency services were called out on Monday night after the teenagers became stuck on a hill near Swanage, Dorset. [..]

They were given mobile phones and emergency numbers in case they got into difficulty.

They contacted the centre when they came across the field of cows and coastguard, police and ambulance crews were sent to the scene, a Hertfordshire County Council spokeswoman said.

“They got to the field and realised they needed to be on the other side of it and did not want to go through it,” she explained.’

Or, atleast, trying to cross the yangtze in an overloaded truck. 🙂

(5.4meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘A factory that makes uranium fuel for nuclear reactors had a spill so bad that it kept the plant closed for seven months last year and became one of only three incidents in all of 2006 serious enough for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include in an annual report to Congress. After an investigation, the commission changed the terms of the factory’s license and said that the public had 20 days to request a hearing on the changes.

But no member of the public ever did. In fact, no member of the public could find out about the changes. The document describing them, including the notice of hearing rights for anyone who felt adversely affected, was stamped “official use only,” meaning that it was not publicly accessible. [..]

[..] The letter from the congressmen says the agency’s report suggests “that it was merely a matter of luck that a criticality accident did not occur.”’

‘An Australian Catholic school is at the centre of an unholy row over claims it refused entry to a five-year-old boy with the surname Hell.

Alex Hell said St Peter the Apostle School, Melbourne, had welcomed his son Max when enrolled under his mother’s maiden name, Wembridge.

But they baulked when the family had a change of heart over the surname.

School officials now say Max has a place, but Mr Hell claims they changed their minds because of media attention.

He said he would not now be taking up the school’s offer.’

‘Investigators say James Coldwell, 49, robbed the Citizens Bank at 1550 Elm St. while clad in clothing adorned with tree branches held on by duct tape.

Coldwell was charged with one count of robbery after answering questions at the police station, Capt. Dick Tracy said.

Video surveillance of the Saturday morning robbery showed a thin white man leaving the bank in a shroud of tree branches, all duct-taped to his shirt and head. His short, dark hair and mustache were clearly visible between the leaves.
Bank

Tracy said police were tipped off by several anonymous callers after the footage appeared on a nightly news broadcasts.’

(1.1meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘A Sydney woman charged with murdering her father and sister and seriously injuring her mother was apparently denied psychiatric treatment because of her parents’ alleged Scientology beliefs, a court has been told.

The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, appeared briefly in Bankstown Local Court today charged over the stabbing attacks at her family home in Revesby in Sydney’s south-west last Thursday.

She made no application for bail because she was unfit to be interviewed, her legal aid lawyer Wade Bloomfield told the court.

In a report tendered to the court, Dr Mark Cross, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of Liverpool and Fairfield Mental Health Services said the woman was diagnosed with a psychotic illness at Bankstown Hospital in late 2006.

But her parents had refused her appropriate follow-up treatment.’

‘A missing staple in the court file of two of the state’s most notorious killers has given them a fresh appeal – and the possibility of being set free.

In an astonishing blunder, sloppy record keeping in the Court of Criminal Appeal registry has led to two murderers of Sydney clerk Janine Balding being given special leave to take their case to the High Court.

Amazingly, the appeal has been granted because a staple was found to be missing in their court file.

Janine’s mother, Bev Balding, yesterday expressed dismay and outrage at the legal loophole, which effectively quashes the pair’s unsuccessful 1992 appeal.’

‘A man said he failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage, and claims in a federal lawsuit the test violated his rights and targeted his religious beliefs.

The suit also challenges the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, which was legalized in Massachusetts in 2003.

Stephen Dunne, who is representing himself in the case and seeks $9.75 million, said the bar exam was not the place for a “morally repugnant and patently offensive” question addressing the rights of two married lesbians, their children and their property. He said he refused to answer the question because he believed it legitimized same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting, which is contrary to his moral beliefs.’

‘The following letters are taken from an actual incident between a London hotel and one of its guests. The Hotel ended up submitting the letters to the London Sunday Times!’

Court documents can be amusing. 🙂

The trick, it seems, is not to use a home made mortar tube.

(1.0meg Flash video)

see it here »

This guy climbs into a large balloon. Why? Who knows.

(4.3meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘The City of Keizer is taking heat for installing a group of cement posts designed to protect pedestrians from cars, but which some say is a phallic symbol.

A total of 52 of the posts were installed at a busy intersection in Keizer and they are getting a lot of second glances.

A number of residents have complained to the city that the posts resemble male genitalia.

“I can’t disagree with that,” said City Manager Chris Eppley. “They certainly did not turn out the way we anticipated.”‘

They just look like normal concrete bollards to me. I suggest that the whole City of Keizer is cock-crazy and they see what they want to see.

This guy made a video of himself building drawers for his wife as a birthday present. Apparently the video was to prove that he was actually capable of making the drawers himself.

Point proven? 🙂

(1.2meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘This Friday, it became known that the Swedish Police Board will shut down The Pirate Bay, the popular file sharing site, by classifying it as a child pornography site in the blocklist that Swedish Internet Providers respect. Some time next week, an update to the blacklist will include The Pirate Bay.

This means that anyone from Sweden visiting the well-known file sharing site The Pirate Bay will be greeted by a block page from the Police Board saying they’re not allowed to visit child pornography sites.

“This is a devastatingly ignorant abuse of the trust relationship between the Internet world and the Police that was created in order to stop child pornography”, says Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Pirate Party. “Once given the means to shut down unwanted sites, the Police uses the filter to shut down the Pirate Bay after the failed attempt last year. And just like last year, through abuse of procedure.”‘

‘The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God’s judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops.

One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless.

While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation’s decision to ignore biblical teaching.

The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, argued that the floods are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society’s moral decadence.’

(5.8meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘Who would’ve guessed that towing a guy face first on a skateboard would not out as well as they planned? These kids need to take a Physics class.’

(2.2meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘The Spice Girls, who burst on to the music scene with “girl power” and attitude in the 1990s, have reunited for a world tour, their Web site said on Thursday.
Spice Girls

“Hey everybody!! We’re back!! Can you believe it!!” Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Scary and Baby Spice announced on their Web site.’

‘A six-year-old boy is recovering from lacerations to his face after becoming entangled in a roll of barbed wire in Midlothian.

The schoolboy was playing in his garden when he pushed his head into a discarded roll of barbed wire at his home in Dalkeith.

As he struggled to free himself, the barbs dug into his face.’

‘Thousands of pensioners will go blind every year after the Government’s rationing watchdog said a sight-saving drug available in Scotland should not be given to NHS patients in England and Wales.

Patients’ groups and doctors condemned “cruel” draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Nice rejected the use of Macugen for patients with the most common form of blindness, wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.

It said another drug, Lucentis, could be used but only if patients have gone almost blind in one eye and the disease is far progressed in the other.

It also restricted the use of Lucentis to a specific type of the condition which affects only around 20 per cent of sufferers.’

‘Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost.

His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He has been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.

To legally use veggie oil, state officials told him, he would have to first post a $2,500 bond.

Teixeira is one of a growing number of fuel-it-yourselfers — backyard brewers who recycle restaurant grease or make moonshine for their car tanks. They do it to save money, reduce pollution or thumb their noses at oil sheiks.

They’re also caught in a web of little-known state laws that can stifle energy independence.’

‘Russian men are risking death by drinking aftershave and cleaning agents, a study has suggested.

UK researchers estimated that half of all deaths in working age men in the country are due to hazardous drinking.

The products, which also include herbal tinctures sold in pharmacies, are widely available, cheap and contain up to 97% alcohol, the Lancet study says.

It was found that they contain very few toxins but are deadly simply because of the extreme alcohol levels.

Russian men have an “exceptionally low” life expectancy of 59 years, compared with 72 years for women.’

It looks like one of the boats was trying to show off and go for a splash through the wake of another.

(3.6meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘A 17-year-old Livermore boy was seriously injured Monday night in Mt. Diablo State Park when he tried to fake a fall for a camera and then actually fell 75 feet onto rocks, a park ranger said Tuesday.

The teenager was on Sentinel Rock, a vertical formation near Rock City popular for its views, when he moved outside the handrail, lost his footing and fell into a crevice and became wedged between rocks, San Ramon Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Mike Brown said.

Friends of the boy, who is hospitalized with multiple traumatic injuries, told rescuers he had been trying to stage a photo of a fake fall for a MySpace Web site when he slipped and fell for real, said Dan Stefanisko, supervising ranger at Mt. Diablo State Park.’

‘A 14-year-old boy was arrested after dialing a wrong number and offering to sell drugs to the person on the other end — who happened to be a police detective.

After the call, Gulfport detective Matt Parks arranged to meet the teen in the parking lot of a school to buy an ounce of marijuana and some crack cocaine, a police report said. When the boy showed up, he was arrested on charges of possession of 18 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school. [..]

Parks’ phone number is unlisted, and there were no similar phone numbers found in the boy’s cell phone, police said. Detectives said the boy, whose name was not released, likely dialed a random number to try to drum up new business.’

‘A 25-year-old Hilton Head Island man is accused of breaking into an apartment and then calling his mom for a ride home from the crime scene.

An alert neighbor heard someone scurrying around in an upstairs apartment at Cordillo Courts, 104 Cordillo Parkway, and followed the pair all the way to New Orleans Road, where a deputy caught up to them, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s report.

Isaac Talavera, Jr., 25, of 26 Forest Cove, was charged with second-degree burglary after officers found 13 pairs of socks, two cell phones, two tank tops, cigarettes, car keys, a watch and vehicle titles stolen from the apartment at 3:52 p.m., Thursday, the report stated.’